Episode 12 - Fly, Sophie!
'Fly, Sophie! '''is the 12th episode of PriPara, and it first aired on September 20th, 2014. Plot ''Laala has decided to free Sophie from her cage once and for all. But with the upcoming unit ceremony and a dispute with Mirei, Laala works with the others who realize the pain she is in to help Sophie spread her wings! Summary Outside of PriPara, Mirei scolds Laala for making rash decisions. Laala tries to make her listen but Mirei turns on the PriPara News ''program to see that Sophie will be in a real unit that will officially form the next day. Sophie has chosen the caged life and Mirei insists trying to fix this will cause them problems, so she orders Laala to stop focusing on it. They will need to work on beating her new team at the Grand Prix. Before taking off, Mirei then states they will accept Dorothy as their third member. Laala gets angry with Mirei after reminding her of the terrible situation Sophie is in and she stays silent. In her bedroom, Sophie awakens the following morning after having a depressing dream. Cosmo comes in and begins to brush her hair, then after recalling the message from Mirei, she tells Sophie. This message reaches Sophie, but she doesn't entirely understand what she could do about it now, so Cosmo reaches out to her sister by saying that she will always support her no matter the decision. Laala rushes over to Prism Stone to find that a message has been set up for them, with Nao, Non, and Mirei's parents cheering them on. Laala is very surprised, but she thanks them while they run into PriPara to find Kuma setting up their stage room while revealing their name. He opens a drink from 2004 to celebrate, and he goes on to say that he is sure Laala will like Dorothy as well. Laala requests more time and leaves to give Sophie a final chance, but neither accept, with Mirei calling Sophie a coward before stating they are entering with Dorothy whether she likes it or not. Elsewhere, Sophie has been preparing for her ceremony announcement. She is very unhappy and remains unresponsive, but after she eats one of the pickled plums, she suddenly claims to be fine. This catches everyone off-guard now that they know the truth, and Chanko voices concern as they notice her mood falter. Laala comes to find many reporters, of both the human and animal variety awaiting for the ceremony to begin. She locates the waiting room but Usagi throws her out, saying she isn't invited to attend as he slams the door on her. Laala tries to get someone to hear her, and luckily, Chanko opens it just enough to find out what she wants before inviting her inside. Soon, the big lights in the stage room go out. Special lights form at the front and music plays as the audience is seated. New and Mew stand on stage as Sophie's Fan Club enter to form a line. Usagi introduces himself to the audience and announces the start of the ceremony. Unknown to anyone Laala has sneaked inside and is dressed as a fan club member. New and Mew are introduced to everyone, and Sophie is given a grand reveal to join them. Laala is very surprised by the event, and the team name is revealed and explained, with New and Mew upset by this, since their names are only at the end of the name, "''EE". They remain quiet and complain, with Laala overhearing them and expressing more concern with Sophie's lack of relationship with them. Everyone begins to applaud the name while Mirei and Kuma watch from the backstage room. Both of them are unhappy over things and attempt to try to write it off and ignore their own concerns. They are interrupted by Dorothy, who has brought along her twin sister, Leona; catching them off guard to see Leona there. They explain that because of the team being Laala and Mirei, they only needed one person to join them. Dorothy quickly points out that she and Leona are a packaged deal though and makes an attempt to get them to make an exception. Mirei is frustrated by this and argues with her before she and Kuma dump the twins from the team with no other choice. Usagi announces the friend ticket exchange to wrap up the ceremony. Sophie is still unhappy, but believing she is useless otherwise she starts to think it's for the best. Laala is in a panic but has no idea what to do as the ceremony continues. At the performance area, Mirei and Kuma are beyond shocked to learn that they have been disqualified for not being a three team group. Mirei asks that Meganee just ignore it this once, but she refuses since it is the system, which she has no control over. She stamps their cards with a disqualification stamp, which causes Mirei a huge amount of grief and she starts crying. Kuma attempts to help her but it fails. As the exchange is almost finished, Laala suddenly bursts onto the top of the stage. She shocks everyone by asking Sophie if this is really want she wants to do, while Usagi yells at her and summons his panda guards to rid of her. They grab her and try to take her away from the room, but Laala calls out to Sophie to try to reach out to her. Due to the interruptions a commercial is suddenly called to rid of the awkwardness while Usagi explains what happened. Laala calls the depressed Mirei and tells her to meet her on floor eleven. Mirei tells her there isn't any point and believes they should just give up, but Laala refuses and tells her to meet on floor eleven again. She brings up the message Mirei gave to Cosmo for Sophie, and insists that Mirei really does care about her, but Mirei remains hopeless. Laala reminds Mirei of an idols duty to always make others smile and tells her again which floor to meet her on while running into the elevator. The friend ticket exchange goes on, but Sophie finds herself unable to finish it. She suddenly realizes something and pulls away, apologizing to everyone before she makes an attempt to leave the room. Usagi tries to stop her by sending his Panda Guards after her, but her Fan Club come to her rescue. This surprises Sophie, who thought they only liked her Idol self, but as they claim to care about her real self as well, she thanks them and escapes as Chanko calls a relieved Cosmo to inform her of what happened. Sophie makes it into the hallway but finds herself too low on energy, causing her to pass out and revert to normal. She recalls that Laala told her to reach floor eleven and happens to spot the cards Laala left behind. She gets up and forces herself to crawl into the elevator, surprising the girls and Kuma as she joins them. They waste no time exchanging their friend tickets to make their official team, just as the Fan Club and Usagi join them. The girls go on to change into their chosen coords and Sophie eats a pickled plum before they appear on the stage. As they perform, the fans are very surprised to see Sophie with Laala and Mirei, but they are quick to fall for the new team. They perform a Making Drama, which ends up being the finished version of Sophie's prior Making Drama and it drives everyone crazy. After the performance its revealed that the girls won the competition and everyone is much happier now. Except for Usagi, New, and Mew. The twins worry over what they will do when they suddenly spot the enka Idol who initially tried out for Laala and Mirei's team. Impressed by her presence, they quickly trail behind her to ask about teaming up, not even minding if they were to perform backup for her. The girls gain their brand new tickets soon after, where Sophie comments on how much fun she had with them. Mirei and Laala are very happy with the turn of events as well, and together the trio share a well deserved laugh. Character Appearances *Laala Manaka *Mirei Minami *Sophie Hojo *Kuma *Akai Meganee *Cosmo Hojo *Non Manaka *Nao *Mr. Minami *Mrs. Minami *Usagi *Sophie's Fan Club *New *Mew *Dorothy West (cameo) *Leona West (cameo) Major Events * Sophie joins Laala and Mirei. * Sophie's Making Drama from Episode 11 was completed. * Leona makes his cameo debut in this episode. * Part of the Sparkling Grand Prix takes place in this episode. Trivia * Sophie's original team with New and Mew was going to be called Sophistee. * After performing Cyalume Change, feathers float around the stage. These feathers are from the wings Sophie gains in her Making Drama. * This is the first episode in which Laala's pink bow is not worn during her performance. * This is the first episode where all 3 character eye catches are used. Awards arc.png|1st PriPara Wiki Awards - Best Anime Arc (Episode 5 - 13) episode.png|1st PriPara Wiki Awards - Best Episode episodeOTY.png|1st PriPara Wiki Awards - Episode of the Year 2014 Category:Season 1 Category:Anime Category:Episodes Category:2014 1st Wiki Award Winner Category:Sophie Performance Category:Laala Performance Category:Mirei Performance